Devils goalie didn't like Lack of playing time in Calgary

[browna]

Never a fan of his but let the guy have an opinion, and let him voice it. It may be wrong but at least he’s honest. And, who knows what GG or the other coaches said to him about the situation going into the season and/or how he misconstrued it.

Players at that level, especially ones that were starters, want to play, and not playing gives them no chance to compete or continue to get paid an NHL cheque for much longer, so there of course is some ego involved.

And, he did have a fairly short leash it seemed this year in comparison to other goalies and backup goalies over the yearshere, and, in comparison to many lacklustre performances of position players who remain in the lineup for months.

[Pointman]

I get that such comments from Lack make you try to put him back in his place, but his comments are actually correct. What he says is that Flames had planned to ride Smith heavily and use a back-up sparingly. That may very well be true. Lack also hints that even if he had played well, he still could not force a 1a/1b situation. He is right. Rittich has played well and he is not being used as a 1B goalie. It does seem that the Flames are set with playing Smith a lot regardless of the quality of back-up's play, which is essentially Lack's point.

[Pointman]

Originally Posted by Inferno

And I didn't like his Lack of being able to make a big save when the team needed it. Not all the goals he let in were bad but it seemed like every good scoring chance that got on net went in. Rittich took over and actually was able to make those saves so he got more starts.

Rittich proves Lack's comments to be right, rather than wrong. Rittich, unlike Lack, has been brilliant, yet he is only getting limited starts behind Smith. This perfectly proves Lack's point, which was apparently missed here.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Pointman

I get that such comments from Lack make you try to put him back in his place, but his comments are actually correct. What he says is that Flames had planned to ride Smith heavily and use a back-up sparingly. That may very well be true. Lack also hints that even if he had played well, he still could not force a 1a/1b situation. He is right. Rittich has played well and he is not being used as a 1B goalie. It does seem that the Flames are set with playing Smith a lot regardless of the quality of back-up's play, which is essentially Lack's point.

Lack should never have expected a 1a 1b situation.
Lack and Rittich are apples and oranges anyway. Rittich works hard and his teammates like him. That was apparently not the case with Lack, at least the working hard part.
Rittich gets limited starts not only because he's behind a Vezina calibre goalie, but also because he's a raw rookie. Easing him in makes sense.

[oldschoolcalgary]

or, perhaps, Rittich, unlike Lack, is a raw rookie with 9 NHL starts. 8 of which came this year.

Lack on the other hand had a record of 1-2-0 with a 5.29 goals-against average and an .813 save percentage...and 141 NHL starts.

I don't think its a stretch to suggest that the Flames are sheltering Rittich, a raw rookie whereas Lack might have been given a few more game...

sometimes its easier to look everywhere but into a mirror to see who is at fault for your own lack of success

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by Pointman

Rittich proves Lack to be right, rather than wrong. Rittich, unlike Lack, has been brilliant, yet he is only getting limited starts behind Smith. This perfectly proves Lack's points, which were apparently misread here.

Because he's the backup and Smith has been solid most of the season. He could have been given a few more starts but for a rookie I don't have a problem with the number he's had.

Lack is insane for expecting a 1A/1B situation. He's not on the same level as Smith. The most he should have expected if he was playing well was to play maybe every 3-5 games or so depending on the opponent. He didn't play well though so Gulutzan didn't have the confidence to put him in more. And rightfully so.

[Pointman]

So, Lack shouldn't have expected a 1A/1B situation...
Or maybe it is not a stretch to suggest that he could become 1B if he could play well.

Those are kinda contradicting points. Seems like fans, in general, just want to lambast Lack. Granted, his awful play has probably warranted it.

But it also shows why most athletes just resort to nice cliché answers. What Lack said was legit and probably true. Still, he got ripped and pointed out to the mirror and to his admittadlt horrible play.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by Pointman

So, Lack shouldn't have expected a 1A/1B situation...
Or maybe it is not a stretch to suggest that he could become 1B if he could play well.

As long as Smith was playing even decent he was never going to be 1B. Teams that do 1A/1B don't have a true starter and play who is ever hot at the time. The Flames do.

[Pointman]

Originally Posted by Inferno

As long as Smith was playing even decent he was never going to be 1B. Teams that do 1A/1B don't have a true starter and play who is ever hot at the time. The Flames do.

You are right. Flames were never going to go with 1A/1B model. They wanted a true #1 and a rarely-playing back-up. Lack, realizing he come could never be true #1, would much rather play for an organization, that employs 1a/1b model. That's fair comment to me.

[evman150]

This thread taught me who Doug Dadswell is. His suckage is basically the reason why the Flames traded Brett Hull.

Nice hair tho.

[jlh2640]

Eddie 7ack

[crapshoot]

Of course it's fair that Lack gets to voice his opinion. However, given the circumstances it might have been wiser to choose not to.

[Ryan Coke]

For Scorpion; I started watching the Flames as a young boy in 1980,and Lack was one of the worst backups I’ve seen too.

Now, it’s a long and illustrious list of weak backups, but he is definitely right up there.

And Doug Dadswell, man he had a great first start against the Oilers. Completely stole a tie even though the Flames were completely outplayed that game. But he could never really fulfill the promise he showed.

As for Eddie Lack, too bad things didn’t work out and I hope he can find his game again for his sake. But Rittich looks great, and could be part of the team for years moving forward.

[Erick Estrada]

The only way there would have been a 1A/1B situation is if Smith struggled and Lack played well. Both of these things had to happen and for him to get more playing time and neither of these things happened. He's a big guy but a marginal NHL goaltender. End of story.

The guy played in four games as a Flame and his opinion on anything Flames is as insightful as Nicklas Grossmann commenting on last year's team.

[Steve Bozek]

Originally Posted by evman150

This thread taught me who Doug Dadswell is. His suckage is basically the reason why the Flames traded Brett Hull.

Nice hair tho.

And the reason Doug Dadswell was the backup was that Fletcher let Rejean Lemelin go for essentially nothing in return. This was after Vernon took away the number one position from him.

[oldschoolcalgary]

here's the thing though - people are ripping on Lack because he didn't have a legitimate case to argue for more playing time

5.29 goals-against average and an .813 save percentage

I mean, those are brutal numbers...and its not as though he was lighting it up in Carolina either...

Lack can certainly voice his opinion; but there are others that will point out things like his record, GAA and SV% as reasons for him not getting playing time.

not sure why he thinks it will be different in NJ anyways: He's only played in half a game since Nov.29th.

[Otto-matic]

I was really rooting for Lack to succeed here in Calgary but hearing him complain about the lack of icetime has made me want the Flames to light him up tonight if he starts. He let in softies, couldn't make a big save when the team needed it.

He clearly isn't a 1B goalie right now in the NHL and he hasn't been able to prove that he is a 1B since he left Vancouver.

[Toonage]

Leslie reporting it will be Kinkaid in net for the Devils tonight

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Pointman

So, Lack shouldn't have expected a 1A/1B situation...
Or maybe it is not a stretch to suggest that he could become 1B if he could play well.

Those are kinda contradicting points. Seems like fans, in general, just want to lambast Lack. Granted, his awful play has probably warranted it.

But it also shows why most athletes just resort to nice cliché answers. What Lack said was legit and probably true. Still, he got ripped and pointed out to the mirror and to his admittadlt horrible play.

I'm happy he didn't blame his goalie coach, which seemed to be the narrative for a while (though not sure any of it came from him).

I wish the guy well. His NHL career is in quite a fragile state right now.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Ryan Coke

For Scorpion; I started watching the Flames as a young boy in 1980,and Lack was one of the worst backups I’ve seen too.

Now, it’s a long and illustrious list of weak backups, but he is definitely right up there.

And Doug Dadswell, man he had a great first start against the Oilers. Completely stole a tie even though the Flames were completely outplayed that game. But he could never really fulfill the promise he showed.

As for Eddie Lack, too bad things didn’t work out and I hope he can find his game again for his sake. But Rittich looks great, and could be part of the team for years moving forward.

Not even close. At least Lack didn't blame his teammates on air after a loss like genius Joey Macdonald. I wonder why he never saw another NHL game after that?